May 4, 2017

Mark Leno to announce candidacy for mayor of San Francisco

Veteran San Francisco politician Mark Leno is running for mayor in 2019.

“I’m the first in the race,” Leno told The Chronicle Wednesday, a day before a scheduled City Hall news conference at which he will officially announce his candidacy.

Leno said he wants to tackle the “immediate challenges” facing the city, such as homelessness, the scarcity of housing, traffic congestion and the rapidly escalating cost of living.

“I am running for mayor to offer my experience, expertise, energies, skills and passion to address these issues,” he said.

A former San Francisco Supervisor who went on to serve in state Assembly and Senate, Leno has a long history of legislative victories. As a supervisor he passed the city’s first inclusionary zoning ordinance in 2002, along with the first law to provide equal health care access to county employees who identify as transgender.

As a state senator he passed laws to put kill switches on cell phones, remove toxic flame retardants from consumer products and regulate e-cigarettes as tobacco products. Last year he successfully pushed a law to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 by 2022.


http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Mark-Leno-to-announce-candidacy-for-mayor-San-11119741.php

May 4, 2017

Trump, GOP leaders lean on California Republicans to pass health bill

WASHINGTON — President Trump and House GOP leaders leaned hard Wednesday on undecided Republicans, including vulnerable Californians in swing districts, in a last-ditch effort to pass their proposed repeal of the Affordable Care Act this week.

By late in the day, Republican leaders expressed confidence they had the support they needed to repeal former President Barack Obama’s signature legislative victory, and said the House would vote Thursday.

“Do we have the votes? Yes. Will we pass it? Yes,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield told reporters.

Members said Trump was making calls to wavering center-right Republicans, holding long chats that included thinly veiled threats that he would support potential primary challengers if they don’t vote for the bill and send it to the Senate.

The House’s failure to pass an earlier version of the repeal-and-replace measure was one of the biggest defeats for Trump in his first 100 days in office. The new version, crafted to win over far-right conservatives who see little or no role for government in the health care market, would allow states to apply for waivers from Affordable Care Act requirements that insurers offer coverage to everyone in an age group at the same price, regardless of whether they have pre-existing health conditions. Such states would have to set up “high-risk pools” to help people with pre-existing conditions pay for coverage.


http://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Trump-GOP-leaders-lean-on-state-Republicans-to-11119513.php

May 3, 2017

WAKE UP!!!! The ACA is hanging by a thread.

I just heard that Republicans are starting to flip from "No" to "Yes".

May 3, 2017

Marvel's The Defenders Official Trailer (VIDEO)

May 3, 2017

GOP bill hung up on how many people to kick off health care roles.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) on Tuesday became the latest House Republican to come out against the ObamaCare repeal-and-replace bill, underlining how the legislation is losing support from lawmakers who fear it could hurt people with pre-existing health conditions.

Some lawmakers expressed doubts that the healthcare bill would come up for a vote this week despite a push from House leaders to get it to the floor before a one-week recess.

“I guess all things are possible, but at least right now I don't see that happening,” said Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.), who said there are too many “no” votes piling up.

The opposition from Upton, a former chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, was significant. He is widely respected on the issue, having written healthcare legislation in the past, and described the changes to the bill as a bridge too far.

"I’ve supported the practice of not allowing pre-existing illnesses to be discriminated against from the very get-go," Upton said. "This amendment torpedoes that, and I told leadership I cannot support this bill with this provision in it."

The revised bill would allow states to waive certain ObamaCare protections that now prevent insurers from charging people more based on their health.

http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/331632-gop-bill-hung-up-on-pre-existing-conditions

May 2, 2017

DEAL!! WGA Strike Averted As Sides Agree On Tentative Film & TV Contract

Hollywood has dodged a bullet. A threatened writers strike was averted early this morning when the WGA and management’s AMPTP reached a tentative agreement on a new three-year film and TV contract.

Details are still sketchy, but the agreement is expected to save the WGA’s ailing health plan and provide more money and protections for writers of short-order TV shows. The deal now goes to the WGA West’s board and the WGA East’s council for approval, and then to the guilds’ members for ratification.

The news comes after negotiations continued past the three-year film and TV contract’s midnight PT expiration. But sources on both sides said they were close on a new agreement, with the continuing talks proving “constructive.” By 12:45 AM, people inside and around the AMPTP’s Sherman Oaks offices were seen embracing and smiling.

“It was a hard night, but we knew it would be,” a source close to the studios told Deadline of the hours leading up to the early-morning deal.

An official announcement is expected shortly.


http://deadline.com/2017/05/wga-strike-averted-tentative-deal-film-tv-contract-amptp-1202081121/

May 2, 2017

Sources: WGA, AMPTP Closing In on Deal, Averting Threat of Strike

PERSONAL NOTE: A strike in the television/movie industry is no joke. I support the writers but the last writer's strike lasted a hundred days, hurt careers and costs the California economy $1 billion. We really need to get this done.


UPDATED: Sources on both sides of the bargaining table report that the WGA and AMPTP are closing in on a new contract, averting the threat of a writers strike that could have begun today.

More to come

PREVIOUSLY: Negotiations between the WGA and AMPTP are ongoing as the midnight contract expiration deadline has passed. Earlier in the night, there were cautious reports of movement on key issues. And there were no immediate indications of a strike being called on the websites of the WGA West or WGA East.

There’s speculation that a short-term contract extension could be in the works if both sides feel they are gaining ground. The prospect of an extension could not be confirmed, as both sides are adhering to a media blackout. The WGA has vowed to strike on Tuesday if some kind of deal is not reached by tonight.



http://variety.com/2017/biz/news/wga-amptp-negotiations-strike-deadline-1202405265/

May 2, 2017

They're never giving in and we cannot stop pushing back.

https://twitter.com/BurrRobson/status/859302698805469184

May 1, 2017

Alex Jones Just Lost Custody Of His Three Children

The victims of Alex Jones’ reckless conspiracy theories now include the Infowars founder himself. After nine and a half hours of deliberation, a jury gave Jones’ ex-wife Kelly the right to determine the residence of their three children.

“Mr. Jones is like a cult leader,” Mrs. Jones’ attorney, Robert Huffman, explained to the the jury. “And we’ve seen the horrific damage cult leaders do to their followers.”

The ten-day custody hearing made headlines days ago when Mr. Jones’ lawyer revealed that he would be defending his client’s incendiary speech as “performance art.” His many extremist views include groundless theories about the Sandy Hook massacre of school children and date back as far as his unfounded assertions of government involvement in 9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombing.

In 2011, Mr. Jones received unwanted attention when the public learned that the Tucson murderer who shot Congresswoman Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) in the head was a fan of the shock jock’s work. More recently he found notoriety when news leaked that President Trump was an avid listener and even calls Jones for advice.


http://occupydemocrats.com/2017/04/28/%EF%BB%BFalex-jones-just-lost-custody-of-his-three-children/